Earlier today, former Governor and U.S. Senator Evan Bayh joined our team of contributing recovering politicians.

We thought it was appropriate then to share the video of his moving speech in which he announced that he would not seek a third term in the U.S. Senate. The themes he strikes — a lack of civility in politics, the hyper-partisanship of Washington — are many of the same messages that animated the creation of The Recovering Politician.

We’ve received a lot of feedback on The Atlantic magazine’s piece that we posted this week, in which former New York City School Chief Joel Klein praised the work that contributing RP Eva Moskowitz has been doing to promote education in the innercity.

Contributing RP Artur Davis has been an outspoken national leader on the subject of the proper role of faith in public policy. Four years ago, he sat down for an interview to summarize his views on this subject. His words rings true today, especially in light of the partisanship and polarization plaguing American politics.

Our newest Friend of RP, Abigail Miller, made quite an impression when she made her TV debut at the ripe old age of 22 months. As you will see at the very end of the Friday Video Flashback below, Abby sits quietly as her older sister — then 4 year old, Emily — steals the spotlight with her adorable bravado, yelling “I’m for Daddy!”

Abigail actually had a unexpected speaking role that wound up on the editing room floor. After about the seventh take, Abby started to mimic her sister. Unfortunately, with the pacifier in her mouth, all that came out was “Mmm mmm mmm m!”

Abigail also appeared in an earlier commercial. Sitting in her high chair while her father recited his lines, Abby went to work on a chocolate popsicle for about 20 minutes. After the tenth take, popsicle fully ingested, Abby lifted her arms and yelled: “All done!” The director knew better than to rebuf his star, so shooting was shut down for the day.

Another cute aside: In the following ad, the little “future Democrat” holding the Miller for Congress sign about 5 seconds into the video is Conrad Bandaroff, son of the RP’s good friends, Holly and Craig Bandaroff, thoroughbred horse farmers who bred and co-owned Animal Kingdom, winner of last weekend’s Kentucky Derby. Unfortunately, the RP didn’t learn this fact until after he placed his wager on Derby Day.

If you read contributing RP Carte Goodwin‘s inaugural piece on Wednesday, you learned that the first vote he cast in his brief four month tour of duty as a U.S. Senator was one of his most important. Indeed, Carte was the deciding vote to break a fillibuster in order to extend unemployment benefits to some of the nation’s most needy citizens.

Those readers familiar with national politics might remember “Walkin’ Lawton” Chiles, the Florida legend who walked from the western most point of the Florida panhandle all the way to Key West during his 1970 bid for the U.S. Senate. The walk became his signature action, so he incorporated it through his many future statewide campaigns.

In 2010, our own contributing RP Loranne Ausley took the gimmick another “step,” and ventured on a bike trek from Tallahasse to West Palm Beach to convince her opponent to finally engage in a civil debate. (Read about what Loranne is up to in her inaugural post.) Here is a report of her efforts:

Still, I was bored working as an associate for a big Washington law firm; David made a compelling case; and John, upon meeting, seemed like a nice, well-meaning, intelligent guy.

Somehow, as the only one in the room with a modicum of campaign experience, I was enlisted, pro bono, as the campaign’s media consultant. I wrote and directed a series of ads that, while extraordinarily amateurish, apparently didn’t hurt Brown too bad — he won both the primary and general elections by wide margins.

Most importantly, watch for the international television debut of my future running mate, John Y. Brown, IV, whose newfound mobility skills inspired the ad, and whose telegenic appearance cannot be underestimated for its vote-accruing effect:

Four days before the 1988 presidential general election, featuring a matchup between then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis, I was asked to appear on the cable television program that helped usher in the age of political broadcast incivility: CNN’s Crossfire. At the ripe age of 21, I was serving as Executive Director of College Democrats of America, and I was poised to debate my counterpart at College Republicans, as well as the ultra-formidable Pat Buchanan.

I really didn’t know the Duke’s policy positions that intimately — I had worked for Al Gore in the primaries — so I pulled an all-nighter reading white papers. In addition to being exhausted, I was sick to my stomach: extremely nervous because I WAS GOING ON FRICKIN’ NATIONAL TV TO DEBATE PAT BUCHANAN!!!

So, green in more ways that one, equipped with an all-purpose Watergate one-liner to parry Pat, and sporting my regrettable 80’s era hairdo (Does Justin Bieber owe me a commission?), I had my 10 minutes in the bright lights. Enjoy: